What do you do with your male Dairy Goats?

What is it about the slaughter that worries you, apart from the grief? (I frequently kill, cut throat, go off and cry, then come back and skin, etc.) Perhaps we can help you out. Once you know how to do it, it's much better for the animal and much cheaper and more convenient for you.

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Usually I clean them after dark so I do it mostly by feel with a big light behind me. If I get a chance during the daytime, I'll get my son or daughter to film it. It's real easy.


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I had a discussion on another Forum, about a different Topic, and it made me realize that it was the way I was brought up, in the religious tradition I was raised, and you know even though I am not religious in that tradition anymore, I realize now that it really affected me -- when you are brought up that, essentially, killing is wrong, you have to do what you have to do to keep yourself alive.... but essentially killing is wrong.
My dad even gave up hunting (something he did his whole life on a cattle farm in South Dakota) when us kids were born....
(He lives in Florida, has really frail health, and comes out once a year so he is not really a viable resource for things like killing and shooting)...
So essentially it is a really difficult concept for me.

Also I would be doing it alone. No one in my family will help me....
(Totally ironic as none of us are vegetarian, and we go through ALOT of meat..)....

Its to the point where I am thinking about wethering the Buckling we are getting after one round of breeding next spring, if we cannot realistically cull any of our animals.....

Oh, and I will definitely be crying.... I know its the cycle of life n all, and I have killed things before, but....
goats are so sentinent, and raising them from kids... its just going to be hard....

[QUOTE=chamoisee;6773259]Who kills them?? I do. When I kill them, I know for a fact that they haven't suffered and the level of fear they've suffered has been minimal, since they haven't had to travel.

The trick is not to look at meat kids, not to play with them, not to pet them or make them tame. Let them nurse on their dams, don't bottle feed them, wether them or disbud them. When these wild, nearly worthless bucklings are competing with doelings you want to raise as replacement does, and are going to breed those doelings as soon as they hit puberty...it becomes easier to butcher them.

I'm not going to say it's easy to shoot them. It's not, and killing shouldn't be easy or nonchalant. On the other hand, it goes quickly. You put down a pan of grain, let the buckling eat it, place the end of the barrel of the .22 at the back of his head between his ears, and pull the trigger. Then you use a razor sharp knife to cut the arteries and veins in the neck so he'll bleed out, cover his head with a plastic grocery bag so you don't have to look at his dead eyes and face, and take a minute to get over the fact that you just killed something, while he bleeds out. After that, it's fairly straightforward to dress them out, and you know that your meat lived and died well and that your buckling died here, easily, rather than living out some horrible life on a dog chain, wasting away in lonlieness, maybe starving on someone's junk lot.

I totally relate. I do my own killing and butchering with the exception of cows. I don't have the facilities to do that. Of all our animals; goats, cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, fish, (donkeys, but we don't eat them), goats cause me the most emotional exhaustion because for some reason I get more attached to them. But I'd rather kill them myself because I know it will be done with respect. We try and sell males, especially if one shows real promise. Just did that this week. We had a kiko/alpine cross buck who was perfect from the moment he was born. We kept him for 7 months, but just don't need another buck. I sold him for way less than he was worth, but he will have a nice herd of Alpine and Kiko does to cover, so he'll be extremely happy for a long time to come. Most, though, get processed for the freezer before 12 weeks.

Back to method, no gun. We have a sledgehammer but I would have to find somebody (we are new to the area, and our friendliest neighbor is in his 80's) to do the hammering.

Besides the killing thing.

And yes I would practically give away our bucklings to a good home (although we need the meat)-- that how we ended up with a free wether when we went to look at a dairy goat, the owner did a quick assessment and we ended up with 3 goats instead of 1 (she also threw in a doeling with 2 little extra wart teats that wont interfere with milking).....

No, I'm pretty sure hanging weight does not include this. (I included it to offer a sort of 'grand total' - sorry if I was confusing)

To CA chick, our mobile butcher would come and slaughter only. THe wrap is an option. I would actually recommend that you have it done for you the first time if you're skittish. It took us a long time to get comfortable with slaughtering ourselves (though I'm not sure 'comfortable' is the right word').

Since neither of us hunter, or had anyone show us how to butcher we started with a book, and got the hang of it with chickens, moved on to rabbits, etc. We still haven't done our own goat, but we don't have ideal space for this either.

Also, you should consider if you have enough cold space to hang/age the meat. Our butcher hangs for 5 - 7 days or so.

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LFRJ
thanks for the info and the suggestion (it might be good to have someone model it for us first time), also how cold does the hanging space have to be-- our concrete lined basement keeps in the 60's (prolly colder nowadays as its in the 50s at night outside ) all yr long.... colder than that? Its big enough for several animals....

Or do you just wait til it gets to be colder - late late Fall and then butcher knowing its going to stay cold outside to keep the animal while its hanging (and temp drops in the basement)....

I did forget about meat storage. I guess that is why it is best to learn the skill and butcher one goat at a time and keep it on the hoof as needed....

You want the meat to stay around 38 degrees while it's resting. Goats don't need to hang long - three days should do it. You can quarter it and put it in your fridge if you can work out the space in the fridge. I bought one of those little Redi-Whip commercial top-load fridges off Craigslist for $75. I only plug it in when I butcher. Nice metal interior, good stable temperature, and a plug so it's easy to wash out afterward. It easily hold quarters and organ meats from a 150 lb sheep. I imagine a small chest freezer could be adjusted to keep the right temperature as well, and they're pretty cheap used.

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The basic message of liberalism is simply: The true measure of a society is how it treats the weak and the needy. A simple Christian message (Matthew 25:40). -Garrison Keillor

xThere is a sticky at the top of this forum entitle Home butchering. It has pictures and might be a helpful primer. Another forum member also sent me a series of emails detailing the process. PM me and I'll share.

Rant forward:

Butchering is not rocket science, but a goat is still a bit beyond my skill level at present. (I could get past the dispatching okay), but the process does require some good knives which I don't have the skill with quite yet, and a bone saw to cut through the bones. I also don't have the skill of knowing how to cut for certain roasts, rib racks, etc. Wrapping for the freezer to avoid freezer burn, is also a technique. I rely on my vacume packer for our chickens and rabbit meat, but that plastic is expensive! We try to re-use it as much as possible.

None of the above is essential. If I were starving, or desperate I'm sure I could manage a goat, no problem. It's just that there are so many little tips and techniques that make it go much more smoothly. I lament that there is no technical college offering a class on this, no workshop being advertised on craig's list, the extension center offers nothing. It's becoming a bit of a lost art, sadly.

We started out like you - knowing nothing. I got a book and read up on how to butcher a chicken. My first rooster was done page by page. NOt sure if the book or the rooster fared worse, but I managed. Still, I was scared to death I'd done something wrong.

I called up and down the coast to find someone who would help teach us. The farmers in the area were too busy (or took to commercial processors). The processors didn't have time or license to teach, and wouldn't take our waterfowl. We're talking GEESE here, not goats!. After much harassing, one of the commercial chicken processors (two counties away), had an old man working for them as a driver who agreed to come to our house and show us how to butcher a goose. Sure enough, my water wasn't hot enough - (making it difficult to pluck & causing the carcass to hang longer than ideal). He also showed me tricks about getting around the crop. He only asked $10. We gave him $65.

Much of what i learned was from the kind folks right here on this forum, but I do shake my head when I think about how hard it is to gain practical skill (like how to butcher a common farm animal) which only a generation ago was common knowledge.

My father (in heaven now), lost his farm in the 50's. Along with that loss was the transfer of knowledge about how to butcher hogs, goats and chickens. (I grew up in the city and returned to farm life at middle age). I bet he laughed his head off up in the clouds, amused over watching me juggle a book, a knife, one angry kicking rooster and a pot of hot water ....but I managed.

However you decide to go about it, You will too

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Thanx for the encouragement....
I will look for a local person ...but..... I still work in SF 2 days aweek.... and there is new trend-- yes you guessed it, whole animal butchering and their is alittle boutique place a few blocks from my apartment in SF that does butchering workshops (yes only in SF, I think we have all been watching alot of Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmnerman-sp?) including hog and sheep- which I am thinking has got to be similar to goat( maybe if I can supply the goat I could get a free class in? And have them do one for me to take home?)....
Hmmmm..
At any rate the Butcher book they produce looks pretty nice too:
Whole Beast Butchery, the complete visual guide to Whole Pig, Lamb, and Beef. by Ryan Farr......

The internet is your friend! Here are some of the best webpages and videos I've found on processing goats at home. They are about deer, but the two are very similar, and the actual goat videos I've found have not been nearly so good.

http://www.vdpam.iastate.edu/HumaneEuthanasia/anat.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewCVFkkyQC4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZn3pjh4Ql4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tudPGNL9LK0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j1rsP0VRfw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODKNpzBe1e4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJDTvxS-4-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ_OLfeEEMg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STh5Hwb95b0

And for an extra bonus, here's a video that at about 2:00 in the film, shows in detail how real, live butchers tie a butcher's knot when doing a rolled roast. It's almost instantaneous!


As for wrapping, I like to use the large spool of plastic wrap from Costco. It's big enough to do most cuts. You just wrap up the meat, making sure all the air pockets are squeezed out and the plastic contacts the meat at all points. Then write the cut and the date on the package with a sharpie. Then wrap it again. Large pieces (a 10-pound ham, for example) will probably need another wrap or two to get them thoroughly sealed. I turn a baking sheet upside down over a stove unit turned on briefly to warm the sheet, and use the mild heat to seal the plastic wrap.

The object is to be able to defrost the meat with NO leakage. That way, you know no air is getting in to cause freezerburn. I've used meat wrapped like this after it was in my deep freeze for over 2 years, and there's no appreciable deterioration in quality.

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The basic message of liberalism is simply: The true measure of a society is how it treats the weak and the needy. A simple Christian message (Matthew 25:40). -Garrison Keillor

Also, you should have a gun on the place, for emergencies and slaughter. Nothing kills quicker or more cleanly. I use a small .38 revolver (Charter Arms) because it fits my hand, and it's simple and pretty much foolproof. .38 because it's big enough but not too big. Revolver because I'm touching, or nearly touching, the barrel to the animal's head, and the extra size of a rifle would really be awkward. I don't use an automatic because there are too many moving parts, and the very last thing I want at the critical moment is a jam. I know professional butchers use a rifle, but I've had very good results with my little revolver.

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The basic message of liberalism is simply: The true measure of a society is how it treats the weak and the needy. A simple Christian message (Matthew 25:40). -Garrison Keillor